1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the food art and more particularly, to covered foods making use of tubers such as potato, sweet potato and the like. Also, it relates to a method for making foods of the above mentioned type.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is well known in the art, potato itself is low in calorie and contains a variety of vitamins, thus being very useful as a food. When potato is boiled, mashed and admixed with milk or butter, and is stuffed or filled therein with a seasoned mixture of vegetables or meat, there is obtained an ideal food having well balanced nourishment.
In Europe, there are known potato foods in which seasoned meat or vegetables, or fruit jam is stuffed in a pasty mass or dough of boiled and processed potato, e.g. Grammelknodel, Kartoffelknodel, Zwetschkenknodel and the like. These foods may be eaten after either smothering or frying. In addition, Jewish national foods include a food called Burecas pie (Knish) in which a processed potato product is covered with a dough for noodle or pie, followed by baking or frying.
These foods are usually eaten after steaming or frying. No troubles occur when they are eaten immediately after cooking by the use of a knife and a fork. However, the following drawbacks are observed when the food is eaten a relatively long time after heating.
For instance, when no cover is present, moisture in the foods is liable to evaporate, leading to ready deterioration of the taste thereof. In addition, the foods tend to attach to fingers and lose their shape upon eating directly with the fingers as a ration or snack.
On the other hand, with fried foods with or without coatings, moisture is absorbed in the coatings or outer covers of the foods, or oil used for the frying deteriorates and becomes unpalatable as time passes, and thus these foods become unfavorable with respect to the taste and flavor.
Moreover, the above mentioned types of foods have difficulties in distinctly shaping as desired or impressing a desired pattern thereon and thus are not necessarily high in commercial value.
In order to overcome the above drawbacks, attempts have been made to cover stuffed or filled doughs on the outer surface thereof. The outer cover should meet the following requirements.
(1) A dough has usually a high water content and becomes sticky on the surface thereof. The outer cover should prevent the stickiness.
(2) The outer cover should prevent the moisture in the inside thereof from evaporation.
(3) The outer cover should not harden nor separate from the dough, and the taste thereof does not worsen.
(4) The outer cover should have good flavor, color after baking, and luster.
Various surface treatments of foods are known. For instance, there is a method in which a suitably shaped dough is baked or steamed to form a cover or film on the outer surface of the dough itself. A dough is applied on the surface thereof with raw egg, oils or fats, or a saccharide solution and baked or dried, thereby forming an outer cover on the surface thereof. However, these methods do not satisfy all the requirements mentioned above.
When, for example, mashed potato is shaped in the form of a knoll and baked, as it is, by heating it to such an extent that an outer cover is imparted with a favorable brown color, a larger quantity of water is lost from the inside thereof. The resulting food is unfavorable in taste and is somehow dry and crumbling. In the case where egg is applied, good results are obtained with respect to prevention of stickiness and evaporation of moisture, color after baking, and luster, but the outer cover becomes hardened as time passes and may separate from the content, thus being unpalatable. Furthermore, where a solution of starch in water is applied in small amounts, the resulting food is agreeable to the palate immediately after baking. However, it may absorb moisture in the air and become sticky on the surface thereof when allowed to stand for a while, or may lose moisture from the inside thereof and harden.